An average person requires between 6-8 glasses of fluid each day (Eatwell Guide recommendation).

Fluids include liquids that provide water as well, such as; tea, coffee, milk, fruit juices and soft drinks.

Fluid choices are important as some choices may provide energy (calories) as well as water, which contribute to your total calorie intake. Sugar content should be noted as too many sugary drinks can damage your teeth. Similarly, acidic drinks such as fruit juices and carbonated drinks may erode tooth enamel.

Alcohol increases water loss through urine, therefore alcohol isn’t recommended for hydration.

Water (bottled or tap) is a great choice as it hydrates without adding to your calorie intake.

Tea or coffee provide water. Despite containing caffeine, moderate amounts of caffeine doesn’t affect hydration.

Milk provides protein, B vitamins and calcium alongside water. However, the fat content should be taken into consideration.

Fruit juices and smoothies contain vitamins and minerals, as well as water and a 150ml serving provides 1 of your 5 a day, however they contain calories which contribute to your daily intake, also be cautious of their sugar content and ensure good dental hygiene.

Soft drinks often contain high levels of sugar and therefore add to daily calorie intake, as well as potentially damaging your teeth, despite providing some water. Therefore, soft drink consumption should be minimal, and where possible choose lower sugar or sugar-free options.

Other hydration considerations

Fruit and vegetables are usually more than 80% water, therefore its not surprising that on average we get around 20% of our total water intake from food.

Physical activity increases the amount of fluid you need to replace the water you lose as sweat. Water is fine for rehydrating after the kind of moderate exercise that most active people choose, and the majority of active people do not need special sports drinks to stay hydrated. However, for high intensity exercise that lasts more than 40 minutes or so, drinks with a little added sugar and sodium (salt), such as sports drinks or home made versions, may be better at replacing the extra fluid lost as sweat.

Am I getting enough water?

Thirst is a key sign that you need to drink more. Another sign is if your urine is a dark yellow colour during the day. If you’re adequately hydrated your urine should be a pale straw colour.
You may need to hydrate more in hot weather or if your body temperature is high as a result of physical activity or illness.

For more information on how to hydrate your body properly, or for any other questions you may have about health & nutrition, please call our team now on 01933 277344.

Step into a BODYCOMBAT workout and you’ll punch and kick your way to fitness, burning up to 740 calories along the way. This high-energy martial-arts inspired workout is totally non-contact and there are no complex moves to master. A LES MILLS instructor will challenge you to up the intensity and motivate you to make the most of every round. You’ll release stress, have a blas

With live and virtual classes to choose from what are you waiting for? We hold BODYCOMBAT classes everyday. So get yourself booked on today!

For more information and to book online make sure to click here!

It’s a well-known and undeniable fact that exercise helps you keep fit & healthy and using supplements to help boost the results of every workout you do is a great way of getting more out of your programme.

Taking supplements on board at specific times really can improve the impact that each workout has on your body, so we thought we’d take some time to explain when (and how) you should be focussing on your supplements.

It’s important to remember that there can be too much of a good thing though, we wouldn’t advise you gobbling it ALL up before, during and after every single workout you do – these supplements should be taken as part of a varied and balanced diet; and they do say that variety is the spice of life.

Before you start your workout a good strong black cup of coffee doesn’t just give you the obvious caffeine ‘boost’, it also increases your metabolism and helps you to burn fat faster when you do begin your workout. If you are exercising here at Diana’s, why not make a pit stop in The Café for a nice cup of pre-workout Jack’s Beans coffee?

You could also enjoy a pulse bar with your coffee (the MyProtein Pulse Bars available in The Shop here contain one gram of L-Carnitine, a gram of Taurine and 100mg of Caffeine) to help break down fatty acids, produce energy and stop your skeletal muscle taurine stores from being depleted.

There is a range of supplement drinks available on the market that contain minerals and nutrients that can help you both pre and intra workout. The L-Carnitine, Green Kick and Red Kick drinks are all great, both before and during your workout, they are all packed with various goodies including caffeine, taurine, guarana extract, sugar and sweeteners, all of which help to replace the nutrients you lose during sweating and exercise.

Once you’ve completed your workout, why not kick back in The Café with a great tasting Hurricane XS protein bar from MyProtein? They are an excellent snack to eat post workout as they provide up to 28 grams of premium protein with only 23 grams of carbohydrates (depending on the flavour). The addition of creatine monohydrate in these bars helps to grow and maintain muscle mass and also helps to improve performance in high intensity, successive bursts of short-term exercise (like a HIIT class for instance).

For more information on supplements and how they can make a difference to your results, chat to our team the next time you are in, or give us a call and book a meeting; any specific questions? Drop them in the comments below.

Our relationship with food is often a complex one – we understand it gives us life, providing the nutrients and vitamins we need to be healthy…and that a poorly managed diet can cause us problems. So what foods should we be eating?

Of course it all depends on your personal taste but ‘healthy’ food can be tasty while doing truly magical things for your body and your health! You may have seen our blog on Superfoods already, but this blog is focussed on foods that help your fitness levels and you can find at any local supermarket.

5) Oatmeal

Oatmeal can do an astounding amount for your health. Most notably, oatmeal can help the heart by reducing blood pressure and therefore lowers the risk of heart disease altogether. It can give your body better immunity and can even prevent the possibility of diabetes and cancer. A nice side effect if you’re focusing on weight loss, is its ability to make you feel fuller as it takes a while to digest.

4) Spinach

Why do you think Popeye ate all of that spinach?! Admittedly, spinach doesn’t make your muscles grow and turn you into a temporary superhero, but its advantages to your health are undeniable. It may not seem overly appealing to eat, but there are numerous ways to make it a bit more exciting, such as:

• Fry with British Samphire and courgettes
• Serve wilted with red onions and lemon juice
• Sprinkle leaves over your favourite pasta dish
• Include a small handful in your favourite wrap.

Like oatmeal, spinach has also showed evidence of protecting against (prostate) cancer and is hugely rich in nutrients, being significantly helpful in sustaining the health of your bones.

3) Broccoli

Broccoli is one of those vegetables that most people despise as children and then as adults, struggle to eat a Sunday roast without it! Broccoli is known to aid with the prevention of arthritis, and similarly even has anti-aging properties. In addition to its predecessors on this list, broccoli largely helps with cancer prevention and has also been known to reduce allergic reactions! Try adding a floret or two to your favourite smoothie!

2) Sweet Potatoes

Swap the mash in your meal for some sweet potato instead! This brilliant vegetable can pack a massive punch in your journey to good health. It’s high in vitamins C and D, which boost the immune system to help fight unwanted illnesses, and is also good a source of potassium. You can also serve them in many different ways, meaning you can easily substitute standard potatoes with a tasty sweet potato accompaniment.

1) Salmon

It’s common knowledge just how beneficial salmon can be to your health. Salmon can reduce inflammation and increase cardiovascular health and aid with tissue development. The omega-3 present within it can even go so far as to help treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and has been known to be fantastic for your eyes.

So why not start the day fresh with a breakfast of oatmeal and return home to a full and delightful meal of salmon, sweet potatoes, spinach and broccoli?

Trying to achieve a specific goal? Chat with one of our personal trainers about creating a diet to support your goals!

As the hot topic of childhood obesity continues to rage on, we ask when is the right time for children to start going to the gym?

Staying fit and healthy is important at any age and starting with a sensible fitness plan from a young age encourages us to stay fit and healthy for life!

We’re not talking about pumping iron from 5 years old but rather creating a sustainable and safe fitness plan that fits in with your child’s growth and development.

It’s all about finding an activity that your child is going to enjoy and is appropriate for their age. For example, choosing a group activity could also benefit your child by enhancing their social and team working skills as well as their fitness.

If they find a sport they really love, they may want to consider competing too, adding another element of excitement and fun.

We’re all familiar with the general benefits of introducing sport and fitness to our lives and these remain true for children too:

1. Raising self-esteem
2. Maintaining a healthy weight
3. Building a healthy body for life
4. Controlling stress
5. Improved sleep

Let’s take a look at specific benefits and activities for various ages:

2-3 year olds

At this age the main benefit we’re looking for is improved motor skills. This can be achieved through running and throwing. Fun and creativity should be promoted over structure and strict form. We want to avoid over stretching these young bones as they are still developing. Swimming is also a great activity at this age.

4-5 year olds

Motor skills are maturing and we want to start focusing on balance and coordination at this age so it’s a perfect time to introduce more complex movements such as skipping and gymnastics.

6-12 year olds

Your child will be developing their own interests and style during these years. Activities can now be extended to yoga, advanced gymnastics, climbing, swimming and team sports, such as football and basketball.

13-18 year olds

Your children are now young adults and their exercise habits will begin to look more structured and resemble adult regimes. The teenage years stereotypically lead to an adoption of more sedentary activities; it’s important to ensure other options are presented in order to keep your child fit and healthy and pave the way for adult fitness too. Options for how to get involved at this stage are endless.

Let’s help our children get fit for life!

Offering your child access to a mixture of activities from working out in the gym and swimming to taking part in team sports and group exercises, allows them to form a healthy relationship with fitness from an early age.

If you do encourage your child to take part in these activities, you need to monitor them carefully. Children can easily overdo it when they become enthusiastic. So ensure you choose the right activity and support your child to work at the right level for them.

It’s also important to share positive body messages with your children. Going to the gym isn’t about achieving the perfect body as defined by society, it is about making the right choices that promote a healthy lifestyle.

We all know that keeping our little angels occupied can be a difficult task at the best of times. As society drifts increasingly towards living our lives online, it can be even harder to convince the techie generation to take advantage of alternative methods of entertainment.

I’m not going to whine on about increasing rates of childhood obesity – that’s another post entirely, haha! That said, we are staging an intervention at Diana’s – it’s time for kids to be active, happy and healthy! To assist with this, we’re opening our doors to the under 15s until 30^th April 2016 for free with any Diana’s member!

We’re hoping this will help you turn family time into fitness time and get your kids excited about being active again. We understand that gyms can often feel like adult-only spaces but we’re keen to highlight the importance of family exercise.

By incorporating fitness as a standard family activity, you’re paving the way for your child to build it into their adult lives too, ensuring they are fit and healthy for life!

Burn off that energy!

Studies have shown that adults need on average 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week and that children need even more – up to 60 minutes per day! No wonder they don’t want to go to bed early! Get them using that energy in a productive way.

Family support

Getting the kids involved in family fitness isn’t just about their development – they can be a terrific support system to keep mum and dad on track too. Just try and skip out on an arranged session with the excuse of being too tired and see how it goes down.

Making family exercise a tradition from an early age can also help when your kids hit those straining teenage years. It provides a routine that naturally brings the family together even during that period when they want to be as far away from their embarrassing parents as possible.

Choosing an activity

There are lots of options at the gym – children are welcome to use the swimming pool, squash courts, gym and take part in exercise classes…there’s just so much choice! Here are our favourites to get you started:

1. Squash

A fantastic activity for ages 4+, squash certainly keeps you on your toes and improves your dexterity, coordination and general fitness. We are a Gold Clubmark England Squash Club and PROUD! This means that we have a great reputation for our Squash and Racketball facilities as well as being a hub for S&R tournaments, both national and local…what better place to learn?!

2. Swimming

Exercising in water is a fantastic way to get an all over body workout, low impact on your joints and of course great cardio too! Take part in lane swimming, Aqua Zumba classes or even learn to swim for the first time with our Swim School & 1-2-1- lessons…it’s never too late or too early to learn!

3. Junior Crossfit

Inspiring the next generation of athletes, your little one could be the next Mo Farrah or Jessica Ennis-Hill! We’ll burn off their excess energy in our safe gym environment.

Whatever you choose to do, remember to make it fun and stay safe! It’s easy for children to push themselves too far, particularly when they are enthusiastic and enjoying themselves. Make sure you build in regular breaks and keep hydrated!

If you’ve not given personal training a go yet, I can see how it can be easy to let those excuses build up and build up! In my experience though, once someone has given it a try and seen the results, they never turn back – their trainer becomes an invaluable part of their fitness plan. So, let’s explore some of the common myths that prevent people from giving personal training a try…

1) All personal trainers are scary, shouty and general crazy

This is a myth I come across all of the time – not helped by the Bootcamp fashion that has adopted an army-style approach. If that works for you then fab, but it isn’t the only way! Your personal trainer should be there to support you – yes they are going to push you and at times you’re probably going to hate them for a few minutes until you achieve that goal! They should get to know you and your limits so while training can feel challenging, it should never feel impossible or uncomfortable. Start by having an informal chat with a trainer and get to know them before committing to a session with them.

2) Personal trainers are ripped to perfection!

This can be true – it all depends on that person’s particular goal…did you get that…we are people too! Haha! Seriously, some trainers want to be all six packs and muscle, others train for stamina or general well-being. Just like you, we all have our own personal goals. You might want to find a trainer who has similar interests and goals to you.

3) Trainers don’t eat cake

Ok, looks like you missed my point above…we are just human! We might have got ourselves into an awesome routine so we know when we can and cannot cheat (guilt-free, I might add…due to the planning) but what is a life without the occasional piece of cake? It’s all about balance, moderation and appropriate rewards! Have a chat with us about how we tackle temptation.

4) Hiring a personal trainer is magic!

Unfortunately as much as we’d like to be, we’re not magicians and hiring a personal trainer won’t give you instant, magical results. You’ve got to be committed and work hard to achieve your goals. Think of us more as your cheerleading squad – I must prefer the outfits!

5) It’s all about the workout

Your trainer is there to help you build a programme that will achieve your goals. They will work with you side-by-side on the workout element of this but it doesn’t mean that once you leave the gym you can forget about your plan. In fact, nutrition, for example, is such a huge part of training, whether you’re aim is weight loss or muscle gain. Your trainer should also help you get motivated – even during the tough bits, you should leave your session pumped!

Ok, so now we’ve cleared that up, pop into Diana’s and have a chat with us about your goals and how a personal trainer could help you achieve them!

Around this time every year, when the grocery aisles are fully stocked with goodies, a dilemma arises: Do you stock up on sugar laden treats for the local trick-or-treaters? Or do you wear your dietician hat and look for healthier alternatives that won’t evoke a look of disgust from the children?

With the helping hand of these healthy alternatives you will start a new trend of healthy treats for trick-or-treaters (or even yourself). Gone are the days when you dunked your hand into a bowl of confectionary and pulled out a fistful to take home. Gone are the days when you sit under your covers and scoff all your trick-or-treat finds.

Welcome the days of fun and healthy alternatives the dentist won’t scowl upon.

Banana Ghost Lollies

Cut a large banana in half lengthwise and then in half again to make four quarters. Insert a lollypop stick into the bananas and place them onto baking parchment and place them in the freezer. When the bananas have frozen, melt white chocolate in the microwave for thirty seconds at a time or on the hob. Make sure to stir the chocolate until it is melted and soft. Dip the bananas into the white chocolate and scrape off any excess. Place onto baking parchment while you dunk the rest. Before the chocolate hardens, add chocolate chips or raisins for the eyes (you have to be quick here). Return your ghost lollies to the freezer until completely set.

Cheese pumpkins

Using soft cheese, spoon out one tablespoon of cheese onto baking parchment. Roll it into a ball and with a toothpick, carves lines into the side of ball to create your pumpkin. Place a pretzel stick into the middle at the top and gently press it down to slightly flatten the pumpkins. Serve with crackers for an adorable yet healthy snack.

Snack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups

These are super simple but so much fun – and a great alternative to carving pumpkins what with the pumpkin shortage we’ve got this year! All you need is some medium sized oranges and your favourite fruits to make a fruit salad. Start by slicing off the top of the orange and hollow out the inside – just as you would a pumpkin. You can save the orange segments to be part of your fruit salad. Carve your spooky designs into the sides your oranges and use a paper towel to soak up any remaining juice inside. Then simply fill with your favourite chopped fruit and replace the top of the orange.

Apple bites

Ok so continuing the simple but tasty theme, these apple bites look awesome and take minutes to make! Start by slicing your apples just before the core to give you two pieces and the left over core per apple. Then slice each piece in half so you now have four apple quarters. Chop out the middle of your quarters from the skin side to make your open mouth. You might want to rub a smidge of lemon juice on the flesh to reduce the natural browning. Next spread your filling that will represent the tongue – jam or peanut butter work well. Finally, take some almond pieces or your favourite seeds and push them gently into the top and bottom pieces of apple to create your teeth.

Eating less does not mean weight loss

Yes, you heard correctly. Eating less does not create the need to burn body fat. Instead, it creates the need for the body to slow down. Contrary to popular opinion, our bodies hang on to our body fat and will often opt to burn muscle tissue instead. Only as a last report, if our bodies have no other option, will it start to burn body fat. So for the best weight loss results, you need to eat healthy and blast your workout!

Resistance training does not bulk you up

If resistance training was all it took to get bulky then just about everyone that touched weights in the gym would be getting bigger. For the majority of us, resistance training is a necessity to achieving that fully sculpted appearance that we so desire. To get bulkier we need to be in a calorie surplus where we are eating more calories than we burn and training with moderate weights.

Crunches are the key to flat abs

They may be the most iconic abdominal exercise around, but doing crunches is not actually the best way to slim your midsection. Doing crunches does not burn off a lot of calories, so they don’t help in a major way with fat loss. While crunches do tone a small portion of your abs, moves involving your distal trunk – which includes your shoulders and bum – more effectively engage your entire core. So you will tone your abs far more dramatically if by doing planks and bridges.

Static stretching is sacred

While it’s often repeated that static stretching is a must before workouts, recent studies have proven that “static stretching done pre workout can reduce performance and power”. While static stretching should still be a part of your post workout routine, dynamic stretching should be your focus at the start of a workout.

It is often said that yoga has healing powers. Our expert trainers know for a fact that downwards dog could be the key to better muscle strength, better health and even a better night’s sleep.
Yoga has been getting countless celebrities hitting their mats recently and displaying their love of the lotus position by posting some seriously inspiring selfies.

Jessica Alba, Ellie Goulding, Lea Michele of Glee and Lady Gaga are just among the many, many celebs caught up in the yoga craze. Even Beyoncé has been posting pics on Instagram with her latest ‘bridge’ pose!

What is yoga all about?

Yoga is a calming, comforting ancient form of exercise first developed in Northern India. The discipline uses meditation and a variety of postures to affect both the body and the mind. The use of the ‘Om’ sound not only relaxes and encourages breath control but can even open the sinuses to combat any head colds. It can also aid your immune system fight off any unwanted illnesses.

The postures themselves can be used to improve a person’s posture, and can seriously help the spine in doing so, so anyone who knows the aches of sitting behind a desk could have their pain taken away by practicing yoga. It can also help with your balance and flexibility by keeping your joints working and strong to prevent any cartilage breakdown and releasing any pent-up tension.

Yoga is excellent for the blood, too! It may sound strange, and even scientists are struggling to figure out how it does it, but yoga can increase blood flow and even lower blood pressure and blood sugar, leading to some significant health benefits. It’s even proved to be good for your bones and therefore your core strength.

The celebrities have got it right!

Even if your health is tip-top right now, yoga has another purpose. Many studies have shown that yoga can actually make you live a much happier life. In completing the exercises on a regular basis, yoga allows you to be much more focussed and relaxed so if the stresses of the work day are on your shoulders, shrug them off with a shoulder-stand instead.

If we’ve convinced you that yoga is the way to go, join in with the yoga selfies and send them our way!

Post them on our Facebook page: Diana’s Health & Fitness or Tweet us your pics: @Dianas_Gym